Cigna Expands Its Medicare Advantage Offerings and Benefits While Minimizing Costs to Consumers

Cigna is expanding its Medicare Advantage (MA) plans to more states and counties, while minimizing costs to consumers. Consumers will now have more choices during this year’s Medicare Annual Election Period (AEP), including plans in every market that feature a $0 premium and 89 percent of plans that have a $0 copay for primary care physician office visits. In addition, Cigna is maintaining or reducing premiums in 86 percent of its plans nationally compared to last year, and is offering plans that have no out-of-pocket costs for specialist care.

Most Cigna plans also include vision and dental benefits and access to fitness centers and services at no additional cost. For the first time, all Cigna Medicare customers will have access to doctors via telephone, computer, tablet or smart phone for some routine care.

“This is an exciting year for Cigna as we rollout our biggest Medicare Advantage expansion to date with new geographies and new products,” said Brian Evanko, president of Cigna's Government Business. “Even with this growth, our focus remains on providing customers with timely access to affordable care. One tangible example is the introduction this year of a $0 copay in some HMO plans for customers to see a specialist, lowering yet another barrier to people getting the care they need.”

This year, Cigna is launching its first-ever MA PPO plans in 43 counties, including counties in Alabama, Colorado, Delaware, Georgia, Illinois, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Tennessee. These plans typically provide customers a broader network of health care professionals.

Additionally, Cigna is expanding its well-established HMO model to 37 counties, including counties in Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Kansas, Missouri, New Jersey, North Carolina and South Carolina. These types of plans feature tight collaboration with primary care physicians, typically enabled by technology and data sharing between Cigna and the health care professional.

Cigna is offering both types of plans in the Denver area, including Boulder. These are the company’s first-ever Medicare plans in the state of Colorado.

“We’ve chosen expansion markets very purposefully, selecting those areas where we are confident we can be successful because of our strong reputation and the strength of our relationships with doctors and hospitals,” Evanko said. “We look forward to entering these markets with very attractive products from the start and growing our customer relationships deliberately over time.”